


Love Is A Science

by CharbroilLaFlamme



Series: Bioshock: Measurement of A Father [7]
Category: BioShock 1 & 2 (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Feels, BioShock References, BioShock Spoilers, Existential Crisis, Feels, Gen, Moral Dilemmas, Rapture (BioShock)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 10:31:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15555798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharbroilLaFlamme/pseuds/CharbroilLaFlamme
Summary: Sinclair sees his suit for the first time. Opening doors to what he had internalised.





	Love Is A Science

It was basically just a modified diving suit. And the thing was pristine and new, unused, and marked with various identifiers.

Numbers, letters, and one engraved symbol on its hand that Sinclair read with instinctive precision.

“ _Epsilon._ ” Sinclair uttered as he looked up at the unoccupied suit—it was dangling lifelessly off of what looked like the hook of a fishing gaff. But he knew it wasn’t. “Right.” He took in the bizarre sight. “This is... _crazy_.”

“ _Crazy_ is _one_ word for it, Sinclair.”

“You’re the only one who calls me that anymore, Gil.” Sinclair pointed out. “It’s mostly just _Epsilon this_ and _Epsilon that_.”

Gil sighed. “Well, I have my reasons, you aren’t Epsilon to me, Sinclair. And you practically made me promise to not let you forget your name.”

Sinclair peered at the hand of the suit. “Is it bad that Epsilon sounds more natural, though?”

“It’s unfortunate for the man, but fortunate for the program.”

Sinclair shrugged his shoulders. At this point, he could predict exactly what Gil would say—always something about praising the program. How fortunate it was that Sinclair was losing his sense of self.

“So who’s the lucky little girl who gets _me_ as her caretaker?”

“I think we both know who that is, Sinclair.” Gil said with such conviction that Sinclair could not argue. Sinclair _did_ know.

She was a little brunette one with short, fuzzy bobbed hair. Her dress was a variation of a purple. More pink than anything.

She was about six years old, with big curious, expressive eyes that Sinclair had begun to find more endearing with each time he saw her for a playdate.

 _Marina Casales_. But he had begun to call her princess.

 _His_ princess.

“Yeah, we do.” Sinclair agreed.

“You seem to have grown attached.” Gil commented with an edge of pride.

“But what if I hadn’t?” Sinclair questioned, he had not intended to ask it aloud.

“It would be process of elimination,” Gil started to explain, “if one did not peak your instincts, then another would be brought in. We’re lucky it was only the first one we had introduced to you. Sometimes it would take far longer.”

“Have Little Sisters ever refused to bond?”

“They’re programmed _not_ to.” Gil said, he quite liked talking to Sinclair about the sciences regarding the program. “They know their protector is important to them—and vice versa. A symbiotic dependence.” Gil looked back up at the suit. There was always something about the hollow suits that gave him mixed feelings. “Your ADAM treatments have caused the barest skeleton of a bond to facilitate itself. It will only grow, Sinclair. And not only does it affect the Sister, but it affects the _Protector_  as well.”

Sinclair understood everything Gil was saying: that the bond wasn’t necessarily _natural_ —but Sinclair still knew that something about it was genuine.

He had hugged that baby girl so tightly that it was somehow hard for him to process anything beyond the love he felt. He ignored the truth—that Gil was making Sinclair betray himself, making him forget what _monstrosities_ that the Little Sisters were.

Sinclair was blissfully unaware, yet aware enough to know about it.

Sinclair _wanted_ to be angry, but it was almost impossible for him to produce the endorphins necessary for that mindset.

Instead, he settled for a long, hard breath to bear what he was feeling.

“What’s the matter?” Gil asked.

“You’re _clueless_.” Sinclair said pointedly, smiling threateningly. “I should be mad, given that what you told me is that I’m being brainwashed. Hell, maybe I _would_  be mad. But you’re so far into my head, that I’m not.” He looked down at the floor, avoiding even looking at the suit. “I _love_ that little girl, Gil.” He said, disappointedly. “Why would you do this to me?”

Sinclair was trapped—helplessly growing devoted to fatherhood. He was uncontrollably dedicated to loving this little creature—something that he would have, in the past, considered a child-shaped stepping stone to fortune.

And this _thing_ wasn’t even _related_ to him. He didn’t have any _obligations_ to it. He didn’t _raise_ it from _birth_.

He didn’t _love_ it.

Sinclair had a hard time denying that last part. So he looked at Gil, an evident cocktail of conflicting emotions in his eyes. Feelings overlapping each other and blurring.

Gil could see that Sinclair was becoming Epsilon—quite fortunate, but Gil was plagued still by the painful inflection of his voice.

“Why would you make me want to protect and love something like... _her_?”

**Author's Note:**

> Notes!:
> 
> — Marina has a full name now! Marina Casales; it basically just means “house of the sea”... symbolism!


End file.
